How to Fit New GutteringGutters are a vital feature of any property, guiding water away from the walls and foundations. If your guttering is old or broken, however, it won’t be able to do its job properly. Your property could be damaged, leading to expensive repairs.
Fortunately, if you keep up to regular cleaning and maintenance, your guttering should only need replacing every 20 years or so. But when it comes to the all-important fitting of a new guttering system, its useful to know what you’re doing to avoid making the situation worse.
Safety first
Fitting new guttering is not an easy task and needs to be done with care and consideration. Any mistakes could cause damage to your property and yourself. First things first, you’ll need scaffold-ladders to reach the guttering. Make sure the ladder is on firm ground, not tilting, and the bottom quarter is placed away from the base of the house at a good angle.
Also, be sure to have someone holding the ladder from the base, maintaining a balanced posture inside the rungs. Try not to lean over or stretch out if you can’t reach something within arm’s length. This is one of many reasons why DIY guttering is a bad idea. It’s always best to call in the professionals for complete safety and the best results unless you have the correct training.
Removing old guttering
The type of guttering your property currently has will determine how easy it will be to remove. Plastic guttering is relatively easy to remove but if you have cast-iron gutters it can be a little tricky. Cast-iron guttering is heavy, and the edges can be sharp, so it’s unadvisable to go it alone.
Before starting the task, it’s important to assess the layout and joints in the guttering to be aware of which areas will come down when.
Hammering large nails into the fascia board underneath the section of guttering that is being taken down is one way to keep it in place. This will stop it falling as the bolts holding the sections together are cut.
Fitting new guttering
Once the old guttering is removed, the new system needs to be installed pretty quickly – especially with the UK weather! With that in mind, the new system and its layout needs to be planned properly beforehand. That includes setting the new guttering to correct falls from removing the old ones.
Testing your system
Once the new system is installed, a water test needs to be carried out to check that everything is running smoothly. This can be done by simply running a hose inside the guttering, so water will run through it. Once the water is running, the guttering can be checked for leaks around your property’s perimeter.
Leave it to the professionals
A poorly installed guttering system will inevitably lead to costly problems in future. If you’re unsure about any stage of fitting new gutters, we are here to help. DPR Roofing provides expert guttering services to make the job quick and simple, and most importantly provide long-lasting quality.